To be sure, a few people will join the Sunday school as a result of being visited during the census, but there can be no large permanent growth unless there is an organization strong enough to reach, hold, and teach the people who should be in the Sunday school. It takes a large organization to build a large Sunday school. The size of the organization needed to take care of the entire situation is dictated by the number of pupils available as is definitely shown by the information that has been checked.

Immediately this organization should be outlined and the leaders should set themselves to the enlistment of the necessary workers. Where will a Sunday school look for so many additional teachers? How will they be induced to take up the work? These are to be found within the membership of the church and nowhere else, and if approached in the right manner can be induced to serve. There are three steps which, if followed persistently, will produce the required number of officers and teachers.

1. The Church Should Pray Publicly and Privately for Workers.

This is a proved method; Jesus used it. He prayed all night before choosing the twelve apostles. He commanded us to use it. He said, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest" (Matthew 9: 38).

The task of choosing and enlisting these new officers and teachers for the Sunday school should be made a matter of prayer at all services. The services of public worship, the weekly prayer meeting, the Sunday school, the teachers' meeting, the woman's meeting, the [42] Baptist Training Union; all should join in prayer for these additional laborers in the Sunday school.

The task of selecting the officers and teachers necessary to build a great Sunday school should be made a matter of private prayer daily by the pastor, the superintendent, and all others who are interested. There is no undertaking which requires greater faith and more wisdom than this. (James 1: 5-7.)

2. The Superintendent and the Pastor Should Make a List of Prospective Officers and Teachers.

They should carefully go over the church roll, name by name, and make a list of all the members possessing teaching gifts and qualities of leadership. A study of the church membership from this viewpoint will be illuminating and encouraging.

As has already been stated, there is no doubt that every church has within its own membership the men and women necessary to supply all the officers and teachers needed in its Sunday school. To be sure, many of them are untrained and have had no experience but they love the Lord and want to serve, and need to be enlisted.

As the superintendent and pastor select from the church roll those who possess teaching gifts and qualifications, they should write their names into the new organization, adjusting each one to the place in which he is best suited to serve. Changes and readjustments will be necessary before the new organization is completed. Many delightful thrills will come to the pastor and superintendent as they study the church membership with reference to the ability of each one to serve in the Sunday school in some capacity.

3. The Consent of Those Who Have Been Selected to Serve Should Be Secured.

It is surprising how men and women who love God will respond to a definite appeal to service. Many of the [43] best men and women in all churches have done little in Christian service because they have never. been offered an appealing task. To the question, "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" The answer comes back, "No man hath hired us" "We have no task -- we do not know what to do."

The superintendent and pastor should hold personal interviews with all those who have been selected to serve and urge them to accept the work assigned them. Visualize the task to all, lay it heavily upon their hearts and pray with them and for them. Show that man a list of eight boys fourteen years of age who need him to go after them and teach them and win them to Christ. Show that young woman seven girls ten years of age who need her -- many of them not in the Sunday school, and perhaps not one of them knows Christ. Do not take "no" for an answer. Be insistent. They should not allow any pretext to turn them aside, such as being too busy, pressing household duties, and similar age-old excuses.

There are many capable young people in all the churches who love the Lord and really desire to serve him. They may be frivolous and gay and even worldly. Go after them. Lay upon their hearts their obligation to serve Christ. Win them away from the things they are doing by giving them a place where they may serve Christ. Do not give up. Get the teachers.

When they answer that they do not know how to teach, promise to give them the necessary help. This book and other books of the Training Course for Sunday School Workers should be put into the hands of each one of them. A training class should be organized and they should be led in a study of the book selected; the pastor, the superintendent, or someone else capable of doing so should teach this class. Find the teachers, enlist them, and train them for their work.